


Lady of the Forest

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Lord of the Rings (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Children, Gen, Widowed, flashfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-05-10
Updated: 2009-05-10
Packaged: 2017-11-09 08:02:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/453202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the future that Elrond sees...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lady of the Forest

A woman walked alone through the barren autumn trees, her dark cloak streaming behind her as a slight breeze spun dried leaves around her feet. She walked past trees that had once grown as tall as 50 men. She walked past crumbling rock walls - the remains of the great fortresses of men. 

And children, playing in the ruins because their parents forbid it, would occasionally see her, the Lady of the Forest, as nothing but a glimpse between the trees. Of course, in the telling to siblings and friends, she had stopped, and looked right at the child, and perhaps even spoke his name, though none of the others had seen such things.

And so the children went about their business, as children do, playing 'Elf Warrior' with toy bows and arrows. Or they would tuck their glowing necklaces under their shirts and play 'humans and orcs,' emulating the great Kings they were descended from. The Kings who had defended this very land against the evil that surged at the fortress gates. Of course, now, the 'orcs' always lost to their older siblings and friends.

But whenever the Lady of the Forest passed by in her black dress, all play stopped, and the children watched, hoping to catch a glimpse of her face beneath the mourning veils. Each hoped that she might turn, and speak his name within his mind, as she was said to have done to their cousin, or friend's brother.

Such rumors spread through the ranks of the children as wildfire through the old forest, though no word of the Lady of the Forest was spoken to adults. Some children reasoned that all of the adults in the village must have been children once as well, and they must have told stories about the Lady of the Forest too, but such logic did not matter.

The Lady of the Forest was only something for the children to see. Only something to be glimpsed between the black trunks of dying trees. Only a remnant of the once proud land of Gondor.


End file.
